ISBN 9783843945738

978-3-8439-4573-8, Reihe Lebensmittelchemie

Linda Schreiner
Characterization of conifer wood regarding its odor-active constituents, their structure-odor relationships, and the influence of wood odors on humans

170 Seiten, Dissertation Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (2020), Hardcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

Humans come into contact with the smell of woody odors every day, not only when being in forest area, but also since wood is an important raw material commonly used in the form of e.g. furniture, building material or for products of daily use. Although being such an important material, the natural wood odor has rarely been investigated.

To gain a better understanding in the odor of wood, the main odor-active substances in different softwood species were elucidated including their identification and quantification followed by a successful wood odor recombination. Thereby, targeted modern odorant analytical tools combined with human-sensory evaluation were applied.

Furthermore, a comprehensive structure-odor activity study on monooxygenated aromatic terpenoid substances revealed previously unknown relationships between the structure of the molecules and their odor properties with special focus on woody, pencil-like smells.

To complete the topic, as last step, the physiological responses of humans to woody odors were investigated by measurements of skin conductance, heart rate, and skin temperature as well as their subjective evaluations (e.g. pleasantness, intensity, and feeling).